My People!

My friend Rob Moffat came to visit a few weeks ago, and my cousin Kelly came last week.  It was so great!  I don't have many pics of Rob and I, (because we were LIVING in the moment. Rob would rather do that than social network.  Weird. ) but we saw Cinderella and Soul Doctor, and really enjoyed hanging out in the wretched heat wave.  It was awful.  But, sweat notwithstanding, we had a great time.  I love him and am so glad he is my friend.  Since 1999.  Yikers.

Kelly came!

Best part?  Photo-bombing couple.

 It was so fun!  We did all kinds of things.  And I have lots of pics, because Kelly and I DON'T like to LIVE in the moment....we would much rather live online.  I kid.  Kind of.  I will say, there was a whole lot of Instagram action happening.  Anyway, Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge,



ate, Metropolitan Museum (in our work out clothes and no make up-keeping it classy), bike riding,

This started out as a debacle.

But turned out to be really fun.

ate, Chinatown, the High Line (as per usual) ate, and two Broadway shows (First Date and Newsies), and, you guessed it, ate.  Some of the places we ate:

And in addition:
Shake Shack (staple of NYC for burgers and shakes):

Some frozen fruit bar cart on the High Line:

Heaven.  Feet in water, fruit bar in hand.  Sad I am wearing jeans.

The High Line, obviously.

And of course, in true Riding Women style, tons of great chats.  We do love to sit and chat.  Or walk and chat.  Or eat and chat.

OK, I have to talk about one of the highlights of the week.  First Date.  A new Broadway musical that is in previews right now.  It is about a, wait for it, first date.  It was delightful, and full of moments that I can totally relate to, having had many first dates myself.  But, let's be honest, we went for Zachary Levi.

ZL (as he shall henceforward be called) is a fabulous actor who was on a TV show I really liked called Chuck a few years ago.  He is really talented, and, let's be honest, beautiful.  And I knew he is also a singer (he was also the voice of Flynn Rider in the movie Tangled), so I was really excited to find that he was making his Broadway debut in this musical. Thus, we went, and were nerdy and swooning over him during the show with my friend Melanie.  We genuinely enjoyed the show to boot.  Bonus! 

But, that is usually where I draw the line.  I don't do stage doors, autographs or pictures with celebrities.  It is just not my thing; I always feel weird about it.  What would I actually do with someone's signature on my playbill?  It all seems kind of ridiculous to me, actually.  And I don't want to admit that I am star struck by anyone.  (Side note: I ran into ZL at Kinky Boots while I was working a month or so ago.  I almost peed my pants.  Completely star struck.  But I think I played it cool.  I wanted to tell him I loved Chuck, but I just couldn't get up the nerve.  But if I had, I would have played it really cool, I swear.  I won't talk about standing next to him with programs in my hand for sale and almost hyperventilating, in case he ever reads this.  (What??))

Well, anyway, Mel and Kelly had other plans.  Off to the stage door we went.  And did I feel like an idiot?  Yep.  Did I try and play it really cool when he came out?  Yep.  But did I get that man's signature on my playbill? Yep.  And, when presented with the opportunity to take a picture with him, did I take one?  You betcha.  Happily.

I am a little bit embarrassed about it, truth be told.  But ZL was very gracious; I was really impressed with how nice he was to all the people who wanted just a small piece of him, including the three of us.  Well done, Sir.  Well done.

The proof, or incriminating evidence, however you want to look at it:


I loved having Kelly here.  It was a great mix of doing lots of fun things, and staying busy, but also relaxed and not trying to stick to a strict schedule in order to pack it all in.

Kelly has a fascination with doors.  Can't blame her.

 Like when we needed to spend part of our morning Googling news that blew our minds.  But that is not really for public consumption.  :-)  I love my cousin.  She is so great!

Just FYI, family, come anytime!